On July 17, I attended the first night of Drake and 21 Savage’s “It’s All a Blur” tour at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The moment Drake came out was absolutely electrifying. Growing up I’ve been to a variety of events at the Barclays Center, and the loudest I’ve ever heard the arena was when Drake came out from the crowd to take the stage. 

He opened his concert with his song  “Look What You’ve Done”  while sitting next to an actor playing his younger self. Drake did an amazing job with his setlist. He performed all of his hits over the past 15 years such as “Over” “Marvin’s Room” “Started from the Bottom” and “Know Yourself.”

What I found really impressive was that the whole crowd knew every single lyric to his songs, which made the experience much more enjoyable. The concert was also hilarious. He brought out a lot of props like a UFO and Ghostface, he put an “Opp Cam” on his fans while performing his song “Energy,” and he even joked around with a fan who threw a Jordan 4 sneaker on stage.

Toward the middle of his set, Drake did something that I’ve never seen any artist do before. He went to the DJ booth and turned the entire arena into a club playing remixed versions of his songs like “Controlla,” “Find Your Love” and “One Dance.” At the DJ booth Drake brought out NBA superstar Steph Curry which excited the crowd. 

The crowd wasn’t only excited to see Drake, they were also excited to see 21 Savage perform as well. Once Drake finished his set, 21 Savage took the stage and performed songs like “Red Opps,” “Don’t Come Out the House,” “No Heart” and “Bank Account.” After 21 Savage performed all of his own hits, Drake came back out to the stage, and they both performed all the songs that they had together which increased the energy of the crowd. They performed songs like “Knife Talk” “Spin Bout U” “Jimmy Cooks” and “Rich Flex.” 

Drake then had an encore performance when he performed his song “Legend” next to a statue to honor the late fashion designer Virgil Abloh who Drake was close friends with before his passing. 

After performing his final song, Drake gave some motivational words to his fans and announced that he had an album on the way that comes out on Oct. 6.

Overall, the performance was an amazing experience. Critics say that Drake is a bad performer, and I couldn’t disagree more. Drake is one of the only artists who interacts with the crowd while he’s performing, and his liveliness throughout his entire performance was great. The concert was really “all a blur.”